A book
tracing the inspiring journey of 25 IIM Lucknow alumni, who chose
independent entrepreneurial careers instead of run-of-the mill
private-sector jobs, was released in New Delhi recently.

Written by IIM-L alumni,
Amit Haralalka and Amitabh Thakur, The Fresh Brew: Chronicles of
Business and Freedom intends to encourage its readers to follow
their dreams while choosing a career.

Amit Haralalka and (right) Amitabh Thakur’s book dwells
on the inspiring journey of B-school graduates who did not tread the beaten track

"If someone wants to
have freedom from traditional job options, then the person should follow
his heart. Start with confidence whatever you want to do and things will
start falling in place later. The IIMs are not only limited to serving
private companies, they also have a role in social
entrepreneurship," says Amitabh Thakur, who is an IPS officer now.

The book recollects
experiences of these individuals and brings out the subtle dilemmas that
they negotiated – both personal and professional — in diverse fields
like films, football and art.

"The purpose is to
narrate these success stories to the rest of the world so that it might
serve as a reference point for many such other young and not-so-young
people, who have always wanted to do different things but have been
fearful of the evil called failure," says Haralalka, who has
experience across fields like consumer goods, technology and education.

To make the narrative
realistic, the writers have dwelt on a person's concerns about saving
enough money for the family and securing one's own old age.

"Apart
from highlighting the success part, we also have brought out the pain
and struggle experienced by these inspiring people in achieving their
glory," says Thakur.

The individual efforts
that the book narrates include Sudhanshu Sarronwala, who sold his
company in Singapore to work for the WWF, Jaya Jha, who created India's
first online self-publishing platform, Nitin Das, who is a socially
relevant filmmaker, and Kireet Modi, who is in the greeting cards
business for almost two decades.

The foreword to the book
has been written by former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Praising the effort, he writes, "I am sure, this book will inspire
the creation of many such leaders who would emerge as employment
generators for the nation."

"He is the
appropriate person to write the foreword to our book. He wants youth to
follow their dreams and help in nation building. We had approached him
and he had happily agreed," says Thakur.

A portion of the royalties
from the sale of this book have been pledged towards constituting
"The Manjunath Fresh Brew Award for Social Entrepreneurship."
Constituted to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship with a social
commitment, the award will be given out on an annual basis by the
entrepreneurship cell of IIM-Lucknow. —
PTI